Ballot

As an octogenarian, I hoped to avoid the problem of getting to the polls on Election Day by requesting an absentee ballot. But guess what? I spent hours in the effort but all to no avail. My recent attempt to obtain an absentee ballot for the general election shows that this is a futile effort. After calling to get an absentee ballot on Oct. 16, I instead got a form in the mail to fill out so I could apply for one. I got the form Oct. 20 and mailed it back two days later. By as Oct. 31, the last day for submitting absentee ballots, I still hadn't received mine in the mail.

After months of being bombarded by slick advertising, celebrity endorsements and candidate pleas, Maryland voters will go to the polls today - in large numbers, according to one estimate - to have the final word. At stake is the outcome of the highly charged presidential race, which could have an impact on the state's economy for years to come, along with ballot questions that have put Maryland at the center of broader debates over gay marriage and immigration. What voters here decide will have unusual significance for a state often overlooked in national politics, experts said.

Baltimore City residents will vote next week on whether to elect city officials at the same time they cast their ballots for president — but their choice could be merely symbolic. State lawmakers passed a measure this year to align city elections with the presidential cycle, and lawyers for the General Assembly believe that law would override city residents' vote. Opponents of the change say that legislators should revisit the issue, known as Question K, if voters reject the charter amendment.

Maryland voters will decide the outcome of seven ballot questions in November. Question 1 - All Maryland voters will decide whether the judges in Prince George's County who oversee estate and will disputes must be admitted to the Maryland Bar. Baltimore City and Montgomery and Harford counties currently require this. Supporters say the measure will professionalize the so-called “Orphan's Court” which oversees estate disputes. Opponents are concerned that the change will lead to a statewide requirement that Orphan's Court judges be attorneys, which they believe is unnecessary.

With just two days left until polls open on Election Day, all sides of Maryland's fiercely contested ballot questions are turning to their final task: getting their supporters into the voting booth. To accomplish that goal, the campaigns have recruited churches, labor unions and other advocacy groups to help find voters, and many will rely on get-out-the-vote machines they've built themselves from the ground up. "We will keep calling you until you have voted," promised Adam Limehouse, field director for Marylanders for Marriage Equality, which is supporting the state's same-sex marriage law. "It is the way to get people out, and it really does work.

Turnout remained strong Friday during the final day of early voting, with more long lines and waits at several centers. By 10 p.m., 425,565 Marylanders - more than 12 percent of eligible voters - had cast their ballots during early voting. That far exceeded the six-day standard of 219,601 set during the gubernatorial election of 2010, the state's first experience with early voting. Turnout Thursday was the strongest yet, with 97,750 casting their ballots.  Eying the lines, at least one state lawmaker said he would file legislation to expand the number of early voting centers for future elections.

The opportunity to vote in a highly charged presidential election and on several closely contested ballot questions drew Marylanders back to the polls Wednesday, keeping the state's early voting turnout on a record pace. After a two-day break for Hurricane Sandy, polling places reopened to crowds that in some locations approached weekend levels, with waits of up to an hour and a half. "I want to give the president another vote," Beatrice Greene said as she stood in a 45-minute line at the Public Safety Training Facility on Northern Parkway in Northwest Baltimore.

The group that petitioned three General Assembly laws to the November ballot is planning a fundraiser and rally in Anne Arundel County Monday -- their first major event in the heated campaign. Neil Parrott, the founder of MDPetitions.com, said his goal is to "get the right information out" so Marylanders are able to pick through the crowded ballot and "vote the way they really want" on the questions. Parrott's group petitioned to referendum a law that allows illegal immigrants more access to higher education and the state's congressional map and helped put the same-sex marriage law to voters.

Forty-five minutes into his speed dating-style presentation, County Councilman Chris Trumbauer had finally reached "Question O" on the Anne Arundel County ballot, the most crowded of any in Maryland. "Last one!" Trumbauer said to an Annapolis crowd during the recent meeting. "You guys excited? Ready for a new act? The Trumbauer Show's getting old, I know. " The long ballot piles 15 local questions atop of seven statewide initiatives and a presidential election, prompting fears that Anne Arundel voters will face long lines as people try to figure out the questions in the voting booth or that voters will just skip them altogether.

Among the queries considered by the Anne Arundel County Council this year are issues large and small that lawmakers have asked voters to resolve: Should the Anne Arundel County Council take a vacation in August? What day should the county executive deliver his annual budget to the public? Should the county executive retain line-item veto authority? How should a council member convicted of a felony be removed from office? The council placed a total of 15 local questions onto the ballot this year, making Anne Arundel's the largest ballot in the state and drawing concerns about voter fatigue.